94 caravan 3.0 waterpump

[Wayne]

I have a 94 caravan with the 3.0. I noticed the other day that the water pump is leaking. How much of a pain are they to change and is there anything else I should replace while I'm in there? Thanks for any info.

Wayne

[BIGBRUDDA]

Everything on the left side of the motor. All the accessory drives ,timing belt,A/C compressor,etc. And you'll need to retime the cams and distributor. Maybe consider "havin it done", cause it's worth it.

[Force Fed Mopar]

It is a bit of a pain, it runs off the timing belt. Replace the timing belt, tensioner and idler pulleys when you do it. I forget if it is a hydraulic tensioner on those or not, if so inspect it for any leakage and replace if there is any indication of such. And use a quality water pump, you don't want to have to do it all over again any time soon I'm sure :)

[shayne]

unless mine is wierd my 3l has a spring to put tension on the timing belt idler wheel and a bolt in the center to fasten it down, i assume loosen and retighten (through an access hole in the cover) after the motor has run a bit?

[RoadWarrior222]

You can do it on a sloped driveway in the middle of winter with mostly just a socket set and a loaner puller and torque wrench.... but it was hell :D

If you're not a complete noob to setting timing, and jacking the motor up and down off a mount to get access, like is needed for many FWD cars these days, then you can probably get it done in an afternoon... if you need to think and pace yourself, longer, if you hit stubborn bolts... 40ish x however long it takes you to drill 'em and tap 'em... :D

[Wayne]

Well the vans not worth much so I'm not going to pay to have it changed. I was just wondering if I need to replace any thing else while I'm in there. (timing belt,etc) does anyone have a timing diagram?

[c2xejk]

On my web site ( kmperformance.com ) I have instructions and pictures of how to do the timing belt (water pump should be done at the same time.)

[Wayne]

On my web site ( kmperformance.com ) I have instructions and pictures of how to do the timing belt (water pump should be done at the same time.)

Thanks

[Ondonti]

I changed a water pump in a Home Depot parking lot when my first junkyard motor project waterpump seized up during its first drive (on its way to some tuning and the race track).

I would just inspect the belt, make sure your serpentine tensioner is still "tense" (sometimes they stick and don't function like they should, I had one like this and I could wrench it tight but that was not a lasting fix. The timing belt tensioner is something I would not replace unless it has something wrong with it. I let the spring stay on the tensioner as a safety device but I tighten the tensioner while pushing the pulley against the belt and leave it like that. Spring kinda sits there limp.

Clean the surfaces well but the most important thing is to use some dish or hand soap on the NEW water pump crossover pipe O ring. If you are not careful it will most likely fold over and get ruined, lean etc. Also make sure the water pump O ring surface is clean. I bought a completed pump instead of a half kit cause the O ring sealing surface was junk for my Spirit.

You are probably leaking from the weep hole, don't add the O ring to the list.